


It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right.

by suspicious_character



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, French tutoring, Hawkins is a normal city, Homophobic Language, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-02-05 08:03:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12790284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suspicious_character/pseuds/suspicious_character
Summary: Steve has always been good at French, so when his former teacher asks him to help the new kid in town, Steve agrees. Also, as  his essay didn't get him in any university, he doesn't have much to do, so why not. That's how he got stuck, trying to help this guy who smoked way too much and always smelled like he fell in a bottle of cologne.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the song Good Riddance by Green Day.
> 
> I really wanted to do a fic where Steve tutor Billy. Also, this is kind of an AU: Hawkins is a normal town, and every weird stuff happening in the show isn't happening here. Steve is not the kids' babysitter, he doesn't interact with them, Nancy broke up with Steve and is now dating Jonathan (but it's obviously not the focus of this fiction). Other than that: Steve is out of high school, and the other teenagers (Nancy, Jonathan and Billy) are in their last year.
> 
> Also, you need to know that English isn't my native language. If you see a weird sentence somewhere, please let me know and I'll change.
> 
> I kind of know where this fiction is going so please tell me if you like it or not (so I know if I should continue it or not)

Sitting there, in the middle of the living room with his head buried in his hair, Steve was thinking about the day he accepted to do this.

* * *

3 weeks earlier, he was shopping in the middle of the day for some new hairspray that would provide a little bit of volume. He didn’t even finish his current bottle as it just left his hair so… Flat. He heard someone calling his name and was pulled out of his label-reading quite suddenly. Looking where the sound came from, Steve saw his former French teacher. Mademoiselle Loiseau, who refused to be called Miss, was coming toward him.

After a quick and polite chat, Steve explained why he wasn’t attending any university. He told her how his essay about his life being very similar to sport was rejected by everyone, and that no one truly understood what he meant.

Mademoiselle Loiseau had always been the kind of people to see the bright side to any given situation, and for her, this rejection was just so he had a new opportunity to make an even greater essay next semester. Now that he wasn’t in high school anymore, he had time to focus. She even offered him to give him some directions in his writing.

Everything seemed too perfect. He should have known this guy, this Billy, was a pain. Of course, Mademoiselle Loiseau waited until he agreed to do his essay again to tell him that she also needed his help. And she even made it sound great. She reminded Steve how he used to be the King of their high school, how popular he was, and how everyone loved him.

"I have this student in my class. He isn’t bad really but he could use some tutoring. And he’s new in Hawkins. You know… It’s just hard for him."

She just knew how to manipulate Steve to make him agree even after knowing about this tutoring. But as she pointed out, he could put this in his essay and it would please universities to see that Steve was the kind of person to help his fellows.

So without any surprise really, he accepted to help this guy, in exchange of some help with his essay. Anyway, who else was he supposed to ask for help ? Nancy ? Yeah, not happening.

* * *

Back to the living room, Steve looked at the other guy with him, trying to understand if he didn’t know the answer to his question or if he played dumb to make Steve pissed. He would totally be the kind of person to do it.

"Billy… Come on!" The other guy glared at Steve and put one lock of his hair out of his face. "You know it! French has gender!"

If looks could kill… Steve would be a dead man. Billy let a long sigh out of his nose and try to speak as calmly as possible but his frustration was clearly audible.

"I KNOW that. But how am I supposed to know if a table is a feminine, or a masculine ?" He stood as he was saying it, on the verge of shouting his frustration. "It’s a FUCKING table !""

He left the table and went to the sofa where his jacket was, to pick a cigarette. He lit it and took a long puff. He always felt a little bit more relaxed when he felt the smoke entering his lungs. The longer he waited, the calmer he became.

Steve was warned beforehand about his mood jumps so he just waited for him to come back to the table, feminine in French by the way, reeking of tobacco.

After five minutes, Billy was back next to him, as if nothing happened. Both Steve and Billy didn’t say anything and they got back to work. They just had to review the test Billy received this morning in class. He didn’t do bad really, but there was room for improvement.

Scanning the paper quickly, Steve found what he wanted. "So, here, you did something good." He put his index finger to one particular word. "See ?"

Billy followed the direction of the finger and looked back at Steve as if he was a dumb guy. "Yeah I’m not stupid. I know how agreements work."

And that was the last straw. Steve slowly pushed his chair back, annoyance clearly visible on his features. He agreed to help the guy and not to be treated like shit because this person was in a middle of a crisis.

"Hey you know what, I’m doing this to help you okay ? Don’t let out your anger on me."

Billy arched one eyebrow, clearly not expecting Steve to respond to his arrogance. It didn’t mean that he would be nicer though.

"Oh believe me Harrington. This is not how I let out my anger."

Steve decided to roll his eyes, he knew what Billy was doing. Playing the tough guy was probably his way to get respect from the other people in high school. He was new in town and has become an easy target. It was their first lesson and he wasn’t quite sure yet how to react to Billy. He wasn’t his teacher, he wasn’t his friend, he was just some guy trying to help him with French. And he was only doing it so he could go to university.

Steve stood and started to put his jacket on. He’ll talk about it to Mademoiselle Loiseau the day after, when he was supposed to bring her the first draft of his essay.

"What the hell are you doing ?" Billy was standing too now.

"Well, I don’t really see the point of staying here. So I should just… Go." And just like that, he grabbed his bag, put it on one of his shoulder and left the house.

He hoped that Mademoiselle Loiseau would be comprehensive with him and would understand that Billy was a quite difficult student. But this was a concern for tomorrow. Now he had to go back to his parents’ house, and read his essay for the tenth time in two days, just to make sure that everything made sense.

* * *

The next day, Steve was supposed to meet Mademoiselle Loiseau during the lunch break. She told him to come to her classroom so that they could discuss the tutoring lesson and he could give her his essay.

When he stepped in the classroom, Mademoiselle Loiseau noticed something in Steve features. "Oh dear! Was it that bad ?"

Steve smiled at her. "Where do I even begin ?" He didn’t want to say that Billy had refused to work, even if he didn’t deserve as much.

Mademoiselle Loiseau smiled sadly and grabbed a paper in her hand. "Wait here please. I need to get this paper signed and I’ll be right back." And she stepped out of the classroom as Steve took a seat.

He heard some indistinct talking in the corridor and Billy appeared at the door out of nowhere right after.

"Baby Steve came to tell his mommy how bad Billy was? That’s cute." He stepped into the room and took a seat far away from Steve, and they both waited for Mademoiselle Loiseau to be back.

She arrived a couple of minutes after and sat behind her desk. She turned to Billy, not saying a word. As he stayed silent, Mademoiselle Loiseau turned to Steve. "Tell me Steve. How was it ?"

He repeated his speech a lot of time yesterday, practicing how to say what he wanted without sounding too hard."I know I have to do this so you can help me with my essay, but I refuse to waste my time with someone who doesn’t give a damn about French or anything else really."

Mademoiselle Loiseau's eyebrows went up and very slowly, she turned to Billy who has his arms crossed over his chest.

"Billy, you do realize that it's a great opportunity right? Having Steve with you." Her tone was very calm, probably knowing that being agressive wouldn't help this situation.

"I don't need a babysitter."

He heard Steve chuckled to himself but ignored him.

"And that's not what Steve is. Now, please, try to behave for your next tutoring with him."

He opened wide eyes at this prospect. What did she just say? "Next tutoring ?"

She smiled at him once again. "Yes you heard me. You know I can tell your coach that you don't fully invest in this, and you'll be on the bench. Of course I don't want to do it, but if I don't have a choice..."

Steve turned to Mademoiselle Loiseau. He didn't know this side of her personality. He heard Billy get up making a lot of noise with his chair and he walked toward the door. He quickly stopped in front of Steve before he left. He tilted and talk very softly so their teacher wouldn't hear him.

"If I don't play because of you, you'll see how I let out my anger Harrington. Just wait and see."

And now he was out of the classroom. Mademoiselle Loiseau didn't ask what he said, instead she stood and walked to Steve.

"So where is that essay of yours?" She extended her hand for Steve to give it to her. He looked for it in his pocket, unfolded it and place it in her hand.

"Thank you. I'll read it tonight so you can come when you're free to pick it up at school." She was going back to her desk. "And thank you for your help with Billy."

Steve didn't answer. He didn't help the guy because he was a nice person, but only because he needed her help. He smiled at her and got to his feet. "No problem. See you." He put his hair back in place and left the classroom. Billy was in the corridor obviously waiting for him.

"You're done crying ?" As Steve didn't answer and just continued walking, Billy walked behind him, waiting for some sort of reaction to his little provocation. But Steve only ignored him and headed toward the main entrance.

"See you Billy." and without even a glance at him he just went back to his car, leaving Billy here with still 3 classes to attend.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The girl sounded suspicious, probably wondering when Billy had become so close to someone to the point of going to each other’s houses. Billy wasn’t the type to have friends coming over, he had friends to get wasted with, but no one ever came to their house. Even when they were in California."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, you'll see this chapter is different from the first one because it was beta'read and let me tell you that welshyak did so well that she almost a co-wrote it. Seriously, she did such a good job we should all thank her !

As planned, Steve went back to his former high school the day after he gave his essay to Mademoiselle Loiseau. He tried to go just when 3rd period finished so he wouldn’t look like a creep, walking alone in a place he didn’t even go to anymore. He heard the bell ringing to announce the end of class, and was almost immediately engulfed in a flood of students. He went straight to Mademoiselle Loiseau’s room and found her wiping the board clean. Judging by what was being erased, today’s lesson was about learning how to translate English tenses to French tenses.

"Hey Mademoiselle!" 

She startled and put a hand to her heart when she saw Steve standing here. 

"Oh my god! You scared me! Bonjour Steve." 

She went to her desk to retrieve his essay and she hid the essay behind her hands in an attempt to cover up the amount of red on the page.

"There are a lot of comments on this, but don’t get discouraged okay?"

"This is worse than getting a French test back, seriously."

Mademoiselle Loiseau huffed out a laugh quietly because his essay wasn’t bad, it just needed some rephrasing here and there. Also, Steve was good at French, he always had good grades without even trying, really. So it wasn’t very stressful to get his tests back. He didn’t know why, but he was glad that he didn’t struggle in this class. As students were coming in the room for their French Lesson, Steve took a step back.

Once she made sure Steve nodded his approval, and saw him mentally bracing himself for it, she gave it to him. He browsed the red comments quickly before putting the paper in his back pocket. It was funny to see the contrast between her elegant script and his rushed scribbles, and the fact that between his writing in black ink and her writing in red, there was hardly a blank space on the page.

"Thanks. I’ll work on that tonight, it’s not as if I have much to do anyway. Bye." 

Mademoiselle Loiseau waved at him and he left. On his way back to the exit, he heard someone shouting his name. He stopped and turned to see who it was and was pleasantly surprised to see his basketball coach.

"Coach!"

He turned around and walked to him. Steve owed his popularity in high school to Coach; the man always had some piece of advice to help Steve get a better basket. " _Be more assertive, you don't owe these guys shit! Breathe out when you throw!_ ”

"How are you Harrington? Long time no see!"

And with that, Steve found himself explaining his situation once more to someone else: how he didn’t make it to any colleges, how he was tutoring in French, how Mademoiselle Loiseau was going to help him with his essay. Coach seemed surprised but Steve didn’t really know why. Maybe Coach thought he was a much better student that he actually was.

"Well, if you feel like it, come whenever you want to basketball practice after school. You can show these new kids how to play."

"Thanks for the offer Coach, I will."

It’s not that he missed high school, not having anything to do all day is super fun the first two weeks, you can just rent movie and watch them all day, but then, it gets boring so you try to find other things to do. Steve was past this  _boring phase_  he was desperate for things to do.

"Great! Well, I’ve got to go but it was nice catching up with you and I really hope you’ll come sometime."

"No problem Coach. See you !"

Coach patted him on the shoulder before heading further down the corridor. In the span of one month, he was asked to give tutoring lessons, he had an essay to write that would sort out his future, and basketball practice to attend. 

He went back to his car, feeling more relaxed than he has been in a few weeks. He climbed into his car quickly as the weather was already starting to get colder. He realized that it was almost mid-October and couldn’t believe how much had changed in such a small amount of time. 

* * *

Back in his bedroom, Steve sat on his bed and took his essay out of his pocket. See, Steve had a problem: the more he read his essay, the more he hated it. Reading it for what felt like the 100th time, he wished he turned this sentence this way, and that he changed that verb to this one, and so on. After reading his essay, he read every note Mademoiselle Loiseau wrote and he tried to understand how to change everything that was wrong.

He moved to his desk and tried to rewrite every part that seemed like it needed to be changed. Once every part would be perfect, he would rearrange them so they could all fit together without sounding weird. 

When his last part was done, he straightened up and stretched his arms. That’s when he notice the time, and how late he was. 

"Shit!"

He ran to his car and drove to Billy’s house. He was supposed to be there half an hour ago, and knowing that Billy was a pain when he was on time, Steve didn’t want to imagine how he would act today. He parked in the street in front of Billy’s house and walked to the door and pressed the doorbell. A redheaded girl opened the door and greeted him.

"Hi! Is Billy here?" He kind of had to shout to be heard above the loud music playing somewhere in the house.

"Yeah." The girl sounded suspicious, probably wondering when Billy had become so close to someone to the point of going to each other’s houses. Billy wasn’t the type to have friends coming over, he had friends to get wasted with, but no one ever came to their house. Even when they were in California. She squinted and Steve hurried to explain why he was there.

"I have to help him with French."

"Oh!" She genuinely sounded surprised, as if Billy hasn’t told anyone that he had a tutor. Actually, now that he was thinking about it, Billy would be the kind of person to avoid talking about things like that.

The girl took a step backward to let Steve in. "He’s that way." She pointed a finger to the left, where Steve couldn’t see unless he went further in the house. Then, he saw Billy, only wearing shorts, lifting some weights with music so loud Steve could feel the bass vibrating in his chest. The girl disappeared, leaving them alone.

"Billy ?"

Billy put the weights onto the bench and he sat up, turning to see Steve. He grabbed his packet of cigarettes off the floor and took one out before lighting it. "Harrington, what are you doing here ? And how’d you get in?"

"Well, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m your French tutor, so I don’t know, what do you think I’m doing ? And a girl let me in, I guess you wouldn’t have heard with the music. Does it have to be so loud ?"

"Are you an old man? Got sensitive ears?"

He would rather be at home, but now, he knew that Mademoiselle Loiseau had some leverage to make sure Billy would behave. He didn’t know what sport Billy was playing, but Coach was always the same, so if things got bad, he could also probably complain about him to Coach. He didn’t want to say it to Billy because it didn’t really seem necessary.

Instead, Steve turned and went to the living room, where they were the first time, and took the same place as before. He put his jacket on the back of his chair and waited for Billy to join him.

"You’re coming or what ?" He didn’t know what Billy was doing but they better get started if they didn’t want to finish too late.

Billy padded to the table and took a seat next to Steve with a towel on his shoulder to dry off any sweat from his workout.

"Just so you know, you’re late." All of Billy’s French stuff was spread out the table as if he had been waiting for Steve to arrive when he was supposed to.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I was busy." Something in Billy’s face shifted but Steve couldn’t put a finger on it. Instead, he read what Mademoiselle Loiseau had done in class earlier today. "Si clause. Um, do you feel like you need help with that or not ?"

Billy was considering saying no. "If I say no, are you going to complain to Miss Loiseau tomorrow ?" Okay first of all, it was Mademoiselle, and second of all, no, Steve was not going to complain about it. 

"No."

"Then no, I don’t need help with that." He turned his head to blow his smoke away from Steve’s face. 

Steve nodded and flipped through more pages to find what they could talk about today. It seems that Billy didn’t really need help with French, his grades were good, he definitely didn’t need some tutoring lessons. So why would Mademoiselle Loiseau send him here ? She told him how Billy was new in town, but he arrived last year so this was also weird. He’d have time to think about it later.

"Let just do some conjugation then."

And yeah, they did that for half an hour before it got boring. Billy didn’t complain much and was very cocky when he got a verb right that Steve told him was wrong. All in all, it was a good lesson, compared to the first one. Mademoiselle Loiseau’s threat was very efficient.

"Okay, I’ve got to go now. Well done for today…" He didn’t have time to finish that Billy was already rolling his eyes. 

"Oh stop Harrington, I’m not a dog, I don’t need praises!"

"Alright. See you next time then. Friday after school okay?" They didn’t have lessons every day, thank God for that.

"Yeah, you know where to find me. And don’t be late this time!" Steve just glared down at Billy, but turned away as he remembered that Billy wasn’t wearing a shirt. He didn’t want to look like he was staring.

* * *

On his way back, Steve realized that he forgot his jacket in Billy’s house, he considered the idea of going back but he was almost at his street so he decided that he would get it back next time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention this before but for me, this is an Alternative Universe where Hawking is a normal city. The kids don't hang out with the teenagers (they're not even going to happen I think), and the parents are doing their own stuff. I realized I should have said that before, but I forgot.
> 
> I loved reading your comment from the first chapter. Please keep on commenting :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, the title is different. I just found that "I'm TRYING okay ?" didn't fit anymore. But don't worry, I'll stick to this one.
> 
> Other than that, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Once again, massive thanks to welshyak for helping me here. Seriously, it was much needed!

On Tuesday, he decided to go watch the practice. He drove to school and once he was parked, headed directly to the gymnasium. It felt weird to walk into the gym and not through the locker room first to get changed. He entered and went to greet his Coach.

"Ha Steve! I didn’t think you would come today."

"Yeah well, I didn’t want to miss the chance to see how the new generation plays."

For the first time, he looked at the team doing laps and spotted Billy. Actually, he shouldn’t be really surprised because now that he was thinking about it, Mademoiselle Loiseau threatened Billy to leave him on the bench if he didn’t do any effort during his lesson with Steve. He knew Billy was playing some sort of sport, but as he was here, a few feet away from him, now he knew he was doing basketball.

"Well, I know you’re not familiar with being benched, but go over there and be ready to give me a full report of what you think of them."

For a second or two, Steve faked being offended because he was benched, but then he went and sat on the bleachers watching the new game start when Billy saw him. If he was surprised, he sure didn’t look like it. Instead, he looked smug. Steve raised an eyebrow, challenging him to impress him. Billy just sent him a look that Steve didn’t know how to interpret. He let it pass and watched the scrimmage.

Coach was yelling orders to some kid named Patterson: _"put on the pinnies, go right, no not like that dammit!”_. Meanwhile, Steve’s attention was mostly on Billy. And yes, Billy was pretty good with the way he moved across the court. He was fast and almost every ball he shot ended up in the basket! If his opponents wanted to get the ball out of his grip, they had to be quite aggressive.

At some point, after Billy did some impressive moves with the ball, manoeuvring around everybody, someone had enough of just being a side player and pushed Billy to get the ball. It was so hard that Billy lost his balance and fell. He glared at the guy. He stood again and was limping a little bit so Coach told him to go sit next to Steve for now. Even if he didn’t want to leave the game, he went so he could be with Steve for a minute or two. He tried to hide his limp hiding the pain he felt for the first steps.

"Are you stalking me Harrington?"

He let himself fall next to Steve with a sigh. He tried to move his ankle a little to assess the damages. Actually, it didn’t hurt much.

"Oh no, you found my true motive !"

Billy laughed, a genuine laugh, and Steve turned to face him. It was the first time that he heard something so real coming from Billy. It was unsettling.

"And what’s your problem, by the way?" Steve motioned in Billy’s general direction and more specifically, to his shirtless torso. "Are you allergic to cloth or what?"

After a second, Billy answered.

"Why would I deprive everybody of my fantastic physique?" Billy was, as always, full to the brim with self-confidence.

Steve just shook his head before focusing on the match. He gave up trying to figure out Billy, it was impossible. They were all good, but it didn’t have the same dynamic now that Billy wasn’t on the court. At some point, Coach asked Steve to come back. He stood and left Billy, still doing little circles with his foot to warm his ankle.

"Boys, this is Steve. He was our MVP last year." Then he turned to Steve. "Show us your moves, Harrington ?"

Steve didn’t like being put under the spotlight. Last year, even if he was the MVP, he was surrounded by his friends so the attention wasn’t entirely on him. Here, he was alone, and he didn’t recognize anyone. But he didn’t want to disappoint his Coach, so he just shrugged like it was no big deal.

"Great, take Billy’s place while I go check on his ankle."

And just like that, he was thrown into the game. He tried to play his best, but he hadn’t practiced for the last few months, and he was a little bit rusty. However, he tried his best, showing some tactical moves. The coach was watching from the bench next to Billy and it felt off. He was used to have Coach almost next to him, observing his movements and shouting orders. He was also used to knowing his teammates.

After a few minutes, Coach blew a whistle, making Billy wince. Coach called the team around him to give some feedback on their last game with Steve and then he dismissed all of them. As they went to the shower to wash away the sweat, Coach turned to Steve to have some feedback.

"So, what do you think ?"

They were alone again and Steve gave some of his opinions. He had nice things to say, but also, remembering what happened to Billy, he said that some players were playing too aggressively. When Coach asked him if he meant Billy, Steve shook his head.

"Not really. I feel like he’s more of a selfish player and that’s why some guys are trying to hurt him so he can’t play." He paused to think about it. The kid hadn’t tried to hurt him too much but just enough to make him unable to play a few games so they could have their own moment of glory. He must have been fed up, or even jealous, of Billy.

Coach nodded his head as if he noticed it too but was just waiting for someone else to tell him. "You know this Billy kid… He’s… I don’t know. I feel like he’s trying to leave a mark on this school but not in the best way."

Steve totally understood what he was trying to say, and he had the instinct to defend Billy even if it wasn’t a real attack towards him. He soon realized that he didn’t have much argument except that Billy was new, so Steve decided not to say anything.

Coach thanked him again for coming and told him to come whenever he wanted, that the players would use his advice. They shook hands, and Steve left the gym to walk to his car to take a shower at home, as he didn’t have any clothes to change. He wished he didn’t have to go back into the cold weather while he was sweaty. He didn’t want to get hypothermia, or whatever.

"Hey, grandpa." Billy didn’t have to yell to be heard by Steve.

Steve knew whose voice that belonged to. He stopped and turned slowly to find Billy walking his way with his sport’s bag. He waited for him to catch up.

"Coach is always talking about how good you were but apparently, he was just trying to make us feel competitive."

"I am good at basketball. How am I supposed to move ? These jeans are tight!"

If he had known that Coach would ask him to play, he would have put his pair of shorts and good shoes. Billy eyed the jeans.

"I’ve noticed." Billy didn’t say it very loudly, but it was loud enough for Steve to hear it.

Steve looked at Billy, said nothing, and resumed walking.

"Anyway, I only hear excuses."

Billy started walking too with a slight limp, stepping up his pace to catch up with Steve.

"Next time you have practice, I’ll be here, playing against you, and you’ll see." It was Steve’s turn to be smug. He knew Billy was good, but he also knew that he was better.

"Is that a date Harrington ?"

"Yeah, a play date as it appears that I’m dealing with a child."

It didn’t mean to insult Billy, and for a second he was scared of his reaction, but Billy just laugh at his comment.

They parted ways when they arrived at the parking lot, Steve noticed that no other players were still out yet. Before entering his car, he made sure that their next lesson was still on.

"Tomorrow at 5?" Steve said.

Billy grimaced, but nodded. "Tomorrow at 5. And be on time, for fuck’s sake."

Steve smiled, amused, and got into his car to head home.

* * *

The day after the practice, Steve was on his way to Billy's house. He had prepared a paper about everything that Billy should know for his next French exam, just to review and see where he should focus more. And while Billy wrote his mock exam, he would have time to work on his essay for a few minutes. Today’s plans were to spend a few minutes on the mock exam and his essay so he would know where to focus for the rest of the lesson.

When he arrived at Billy’s house, ahead of time, he saw Billy smoking outside, and weirdly enough he had a buttoned up jean jacket on, covering his usually open button down to keep away the cold. Getting out of his car, he approached Billy with one eyebrow up, a silent question.

"I can’t believe my eyes, is that you Billy ?"

"Straight from your dreams, pretty boy."

Steve smirked but didn’t react to the nickname.

"What about depriving everyone of your body and all that ?"

Billy shrugged, "It’s too cold."

"And here I was thinking that you were always hot."

"Don’t get me wrong Harrington. I still am. But I was talking about the weather."

Steve should have seen that coming. Steve huffed a laugh and waited until Billy had finished his cigarette to follow him inside. For someone who thought it was cold outside, Billy didn’t seem to hurry to finish his cigarette, while Steve was rubbing his hand together to keep his fingers warm. As usual, they sat at the table and Steve put two papers on it.

"So this one is for you. It’s just a few points that I have to check."

Billy took his paper and pointed to the other one. "And what is this ?"

"This one is mine."

"Okay." Billy didn’t ask more as he thought it was just a paper from Mademoiselle Loiseau, giving Steve points to work on with Billy.

Billy took a pen, read his mock exam, and started writing on it. It was like a choreography: put the pen between his lips while he was reading a question, scribble something right after, putting the pen back in his mouth while moving to the next question. Steve watched him and before it became creepy, he remembered he had to work on his essay.

"Can I have a pen please ?" Steve asked.

Billy hummed his approval and fished for a pen in his bag with his free hand while the other one was writing. Steve started to read Mademoiselle Loiseau’s comments and opposed to Billy who looked inspired, he didn’t know what to write.

Without thinking about it, he put the pen between his lips, read the script in red ink a second time and glanced over at Billy’s paper to see how far he was. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Billy, chewing on his pen, and Steve became very aware of the pen currently in his own mouth. All of a sudden, he took it out and tried to wipe it discreetly on his sleeve.

"Done."

Billy pushed his paper back toward Steve. While he was checking the answers, Steve saw Billy searching his schoolbag. He took a paper out of it and set it aside on the table.

"Make sure to put your accents on your words. _Mange_ is not the same as mangé." Steve kept his eyes on the paper to see the last answers. "Other than that, I don’t really know what we can revise today."

"I have to admit, I don’t even know why Miss Loiseau wants me to have a tutor. I’m doing fucking great in French."

Steve didn’t say anything about the Miss instead of Mademoiselle, but he had to say that Billy had a point. He didn’t know either.

"Anyway, look at this." Billy showed the paper he took out of his bag to Steve.

It was a flyer for some party this weekend. Steve looked at it and realized that he didn’t know who was hosting so it might be weird to go if he didn’t know anyone. As he looked reluctant, Billy decided to give the best argument.

"Free alcohol, dude." He waggled his eyebrows. "Come on Harrington, get wild for once."

"Yeah, I have to see if I don’t have anything else this weekend though."

"Sure."

Steve noticed that Billy sounded almost disappointed. Of course, Billy didn’t know that but Steve didn’t have anything planned this weekend. He wasn’t even sure his parents would be around, to be honest.

"So what do we do now ?"

"Well, you don’t need more practice for this test, and I actually have something to do, so if you don’t mind, I’ll go home to finish it. Deal ?"

Billy was surprised that Steve was the one to bail on the tutoring, but nodded anyway. He understood but he was still bummed about it.

"Nice." Steve stood and took his essay back with him. "See you."

And just like that, after 20 minutes of tutoring, Steve left to work on his essay. 

* * *

On Saturday night, Steve found himself slouched on his the couch of his living room, watching a documentary about Ronald Reagan. His parents were out of town for the weekend visiting one of his aunts. He went to the fridge to see if there was anything he could eat. Usually, he would cook something but he chose to make a sandwich for tonight. He took all the ingredients he needed and close the fridge’s door with his foot. When his sandwich was prepared, he opened the fridge again to put everything back, and heard two bottles of beer clicking together.

That’s what made him remember the party. He checked the clock and decided that he would go, stay a few minutes and come back. He didn’t have high expectations for this party, and was almost sure that he wouldn’t know anyone apart from Billy. He still went to the bathroom to check his hair and on his way back to the kitchen, he went to his bedroom to grab his sunglasses. He hooked them to the collar of his t-shirt and headed to the kitchen to finally eat his sandwich. Once he was done, he went to his car.

The party was not far from his house, that’s how he remembered the address and after few minutes drive, he parked along the street. He walked to the house and decided to go get something to drink first. There was a big bowl on the counter with red cups right next to it, so Steve took one and filled it with the liquid that was inside the bowl. He took a curious sip and realized that it didn’t have strong alcohol in it so he won’t be drunk too fast. He walk through the living room to the back patio, trying to find Billy, or any other familiar face really.

"Harrington!"

Steve turned and saw Billy, who was back to his typical attire: a leather jacket with a shirt barely buttoned, and tucked to a pair of tight jeans. Billy left the group of guys he was talking to before seeing Steve and went to join him.

"You came!" He sounded almost happy to see Steve, which made Steve realized that Billy was tipsy, if not already fully drunk.

"Dude, it’s 10pm, how are you already drunk?"

Billy smiled innocently and took Steve’s cup out of his hands. He sniffed at the contents and drank from it. He grimaced as he swallow: the mixture was too sweet for his tastes, and there was barely any alcohol in it.

"First, I drink real alcohol" he gave the cup back to Steve with a judgemental look. "Also, I’m not drunk."

Steve looked at him closely: his cheeks were flushed red from the alcohol, and he was not his usual broody self. "Sure thing, Billy."

Suddenly, Billy took him by the wrist and led him to the group of guys he had been talking to.

"Pour some shots."

One of the guys started to fill two shots in front of him with vodka. Billy took one of them and handed the other one to Steve.

"We drink, the first one to stop lose. It’s easy." Billy waited until Steve nodded to drink his shot, but before Steve had the chance to drink his, Billy came closer, and into his personal bubble and whisper something to Steve’s ear. "Show me what the King is worth."

Steve had no idea how Billy knew that he used to be King of the high school but he decided that that would be a question to save for later. For now, he had to drink his shot of vodka. The alcohol was strong and burnt his throat, but Steve was used to drink cheap alcohol from when he was still in highschool.

Then Billy drank his second shot followed by Steve, and so on until they had 7 shots each. The guys around them were shouting Billy’s name to encourage him, while Steve was completely ignored. Well, Steve only had 6, but he decided to pass on the seventh. He lost this contest, but he noticed that when Billy threw his head back to swallow his last shot, he almost lost balance. Steve was King once, but he didn’t have anything to prove these guys he didn’t know, so he felt like Billy could have this win. He knew Billy would probably remind him forever but he didn’t mind.

Following this shot contest, it was Steve’s turn to grab Billy by the wrist to bring him to the kitchen. He took a red cup and filled it with water before giving it to Billy. Billy grabbed the cup with one hand, and with the other he took Steve’s sunglasses and put them on.

"Look everyone, I’m King Steve." He didn’t say it loud enough to get anyone’s attention, he just wanted to make fun of Steve for losing the contest.

Steve didn’t take it personally, blamed it on the alcohol.

"Drink your water," he said instead of telling Billy how terrible his impression was.

Billy followed Steve’s order. He spilled half of the cup on his torso while trying to drink from it, as he misjudged the distance between his mouth and the lip of the cup. However, he didn’t seem bothered by the water sliding down on his body. He put down the cup and leaned on the counter, mimicking Steve’s pose and looked at everyone in the living room.

Teenagers were dancing to the rhythm of the songs, each one of them with a drink in their hands. Boys were trying to hit on girls, while girls were trying to play the indifference card. Some couples were dancing together.

"See anything you like Harrington ?"

Steve turned his head to Billy, checked the cup to see if he had finished it and shook his head. He wasn’t here to find some random hookup, anyway.

"What about you? Found a girl that taught your eye ?"

"Nope. Not my type."

"Really ? You didn’t find any girl in whole Hawkins. Come on, you’re being too picky!"

Billy just looked at him, but Steve had trouble reading his expressions, as his eyes were hidden by Steve’s sunglasses. Steve moved his hand to take them back, but Billy took one step back, just out of reach.

"Come on! What’s your type ?" Steve asked, curious of knowing what kind of girls Billy was attracted to. He tried to imagine the perfect girl for Billy. She would be tall, and with gorgeous hair to match with Billy’s. He tried to picture a face but he didn’t manage as something seemed off. He felt as if he was jealous, but for no reason. He couldn’t be jealous of Billy for dating his imaginary fantasy.

Billy sent him a grin and turned back to the living room.

"You’ll find out soon enough."

Steve didn’t know what it was supposed to mean so he didn’t say anything else. Instead, he copied Billy and looked at the teenagers dancing in the living room. He recognized some faces from last year, but wasn’t able to put a name to any faces. And then he saw Nancy, dancing languorously with Jonathan. He knew they were a thing now, but seeing them actually be together was like a right hook in the stomach. He averted his eyes quickly before one of them caught him.

"Well, that’s my cue to leave." As Billy turned to him, Steve continued. "See the girl over there with the pink dress ?" He waited until Billy spotted her and nodded. "That’s my ex girlfriend and her new boyfriend."

Billy put the sunglasses down his nose and squinted as if he would see better this way. Then he turned to Steve, and back at the guy before looking at Steve once more.

"Well, it’s her loss. You look better than him."

Steve let out a humourless laugh. "Thanks man. I’m still leaving, I don’t want to run into them."

He headed to the front door, and realized that Billy was walking beside him.

"You’re leaving too?"

"What’s the point of staying if you’re not here?"

With this sentence, Steve noticed how drunk Billy would be to say this kind of thing. Billy was this close to call him by his actual name.

"I’m driving you home. You’re way too drunk to drive."

"My house or yours?"

"I’ll take you to yours, and I’ll drive myself to mine."

Billy grumbled. "You’re no fun, Harrington."

"Never said I was."

Billy slowed down a bit and then he completely stopped walking once he was on the front patio. When Steve realized, he stopped too and turned to Billy.

"Wait! You drank too."

Steve sighed.  Billy had a point. "I know, but you were drunk before I arrived so I’m more sober than you."

Billy considered, trying to remember how many shots he had had that night. When he realized that he didn’t have any idea, he nodded. "True." He resume his walking, and then stopped again abruptly, still a few steps away from Steve. "But what about my car ?"

Steve rolled his eyes and sighed once again, louder this time. "I’ll come pick you up tomorrow, and you’ll have it back."

"But what if something happens during the night?"

"Billy stop stalling, and get in my car."

After that, Billy didn’t say anything and continued to follow Steve to his car. He sat in the passenger’s seat of the beamer. Steve started the engine and drove. He went slower than usual because he had had a few drinks. During the drive, Billy let his head fall back to the headrest and closed his eyes. The radio was off, and for a moment, Steve thought Billy was asleep but after a while, he talked again.

"I didn’t know if you would come tonight, you know." He turned his head to look at Steve, who was focused on the road.

"I didn’t know either." He turned at the next right. "Here we are."

Billy turned to Steve one last time and watched him for a second or two. He looked like he wanted to say something but instead he just sighed. Steve stepped out of his car and went to open the door for Billy.

"You’re such a gentleman, Harrington." He didn’t even fight and put his arms where Steve wanted them.

They went to the house, tripping over the first step. Steve really wished he didn’t have to support Billy’s weigh up these stairs as the guy was toned. Billy seemed to make little to no effort to walk properly, and Steve had trouble to get him up the steps as he was just a deadweight. As Steve saw some lights inside he decided to ring the bell instead of just entering it.

A middle-aged man opened the door and stared at the two teenagers in front of him.

"Billy."

His voice was stern, like a military officer calling one of his soldiers. Billy withdrew his arms and tried to straighten a little bit, but didn’t say anything.

Then the adult turned to Steve and this way, the light from inside was actually on his face so Steve could see him. His face matched the voice he heard just before. He looked at Steve from head to toe with disdain, without uttering a word. He turned back to Billy and just stood there, then stepped aside, and pointed inside the house with his index finger to instruct Billy to enter.

Billy didn’t say anything else to Steve, he didn’t even turn to him and just went inside. Once he was in, the man stepped right after him and slammed the door shut.

Steve didn’t really understand what just happened but he went back to his car and drove back to his house. By the time he arrived, the night sky had crept up over Hawkins and Steve walk directly to his room to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you feel like telling me how you found this chapter ;)
> 
> Side Note: please note that the end of year is super busy for most of us. So I really don't know when chapter 4 is going to be online. It might not even be before January, I really don't know, sorry about that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologize for the delay. It wasn't supposed to be that long, but then I had trouble with my beta. Their schedule was too full and they couldn't help me anymore. It happens and I totally understand. Been there, done that.  
> Anyway, I don't have any beta now, so this chapter might be terrible. Sorry for that.

The day after the party, Steve rolled out of bed around 11am but didn’t get out until one hour later. He felt groggy due to the amount of alcohol he had the night before and couldn’t bring himself to face the day yet. Then he remembered that he had to go pick up Billy to get his car back. He got out of bed and hopped in the shower to try and look more awake.

On his way out, he stopped by the kitchen and grabbed a banana to eat on his way even though he knew he probably should take the time to eat something else. He entered his car and started driving to Billy’s house when the events from last night came back to his memory. He remembered the man who had welcomed them on the porch, probably Billy’s dad, and how tensed Billy had become when he saw him.

He turned right one last time and ended his journey in front of Billy’s house. He stepped out of his car and hoped not to see Billy’s dad here. Their last encounter was enough for Steve to know that he didn’t want to see him again anytime soon. He bounced on the three steps he had so much trouble climbing yesterday and hesitated before knocking. He breathed out and knocked lightly as if afraid to be heard. He was ridiculous, no one would be able to hear him like that. He went to knock again but when his hand was about to hit the door, someone opened.

"Oh, hi!" It was the red-haired girl he already met once. "Remember me?"

The girl frowned a bit, probably trying to recognize his face. After a moment, she snapped her finger. "Billy’s tutor!" Steve smiled at her. "Uhm, he’s asleep though."

Steve opened his eyes wide and glanced at his watch. "Really? Do you think you can go tell him I’m here?"

She looked at him, uncertain. Instead of answering, she stepped aside to let him in.

"He’s right there." She pointed at the door next to them and Steve thought that if it was Billy’s room, it would be so easy for him to sneak out at night. He was right next to the front door.

 Steve understood that she didn’t want to wake Billy and went to do it himself. "I’m Steve by the way."

The girl walked toward a different room and shouted behind her "I’m Max."

For the second time in the last five minutes he hesitated before knocking on the door. He was so stupid; it was just Billy. He knocked and waited for some kind of answer.

"Max!  I swear to god!" Even if his voice was muffled by the door, he could hear the threat in his voice. 

"Billy," Steve cleared his throat. "It’s me."

As he could hear some noise behind the door, he let himself in. He turned the knob and stepped inside even if Billy hadn’t told him to. Steve was a little bit curious to see what Billy’s room would look like.

Once inside, he saw Billy throwing an arm over his eyes to prevent being blinded by the bright light from the living room. When he realized, Steve closed the door behind him and became suddenly aware that he was alone in Billy’s room. 

"To what do I owe the honor of having King Steve in my room?" He stopped and moved his arm from his eyes to his navel. "Don’t get me wrong--I’m glad you’re here--I just thought it would take longer." 

Steve leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his chest. "Don’t cream your pants." Billy cocked an eyebrow at that and folded his other arm under his head. Steve watched his and noticed the way Billy’s abs flexed with the movement.

"You like what you see?" 

Steve snapped his gaze back to Billy’s face and tried to look unimpressed. "Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere?" 

Billy sat up straight with a mischievous smirk. "I want to say "in your pants" but I guess that’s not the right answer." Steve rolled his eyes, and put his hands in his pockets. "Come on, it’s so easy to tease you, don’t be mad." Billy stood and went to grab his pants from last night that were folded over a chair. "Where should I be? I’m in no condition to do French.

Steve huffed a laugh. " Yeah, no shit?" Billy was now putting a shirt on but buttoned it halfway to the top. "We need to go get your car." 

Billy stopped, looked around to find his shoes and sat back on his bed to put them on. "Do we really have to go at 7am?" 

Steve opened the door of the room to get out and answer to Billy. "Dude, it’s almost 2pm."

Billy turned his head quickly and watched Steve in the other room. He looked at his own watch, discarded on the floor next to his bed, and realized that Steve was right. He hurried out of his room, and shouted in the direction where Max had disappeared earlier.  "Max, hurry!"

She was out of her room in a few seconds and stared at him with a confused look on her face. "What?"

"Grab your walkman or whatever and come on!" He turned to Steve now and tilted his head to the front door. "Let’s go."

That’s when Steve noticed the black eye under Billy’s right eye. He hadn’t seen it before, probably because his bedroom was too dark, but he didn’t ask any questions for now. He went to his car and waited until everyone was inside to start the engine.

"What happened to your eye?" Steve asked now that they were in the car.

Billy lifted his hand to his eye, as if he wanted to hide the bruise that was starting to grow around it. "Nothing." He put a little bit of pressure on the bruise to gauge how bad it was and winced when he felt the pain. 

"Well, that’s clearly a lie."

"That’s all you’re going to get though." Billy said before checking if Max had heard any of it. She was looking out of the window, seeing the landscape slip away as Steve drove. She didn’t react to their conversation, so Billy assumed the volume of her walkman was high enough. 

He turned to face the road again and looked at himself in the mirror placed in the sun visor. He tried to tame his hair with his fingers but it wasn’t really useful.

As Steve had understood, Billy didn’t want to talk about his black eye, and instead of staying in this awkward silence, he turned the radio on. _"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears…"_

"Nope." What were the chances of him stumbling on this song and this verse? He turned the volume down until he couldn’t hear the song anymore.

"You don’t like Wham?" Billy sounded almost offended by Steve’s music choice. Steve looked at him, confused. He pictured Billy to be the kind of guy to listen to hard rock music, with the sound so loud that anyone could feel the vibrations of the bass.

"I don’t like that song."

"It reminds you of your ex. The one from yesterday." It wasn’t a question, and Steve was impressed that Billy remember that bit from last night despite how drunk he had been.

Steve didn’t answer. Billy didn’t want to explain his black eye, so Steve would stay quiet too. He wasn’t in the mood to pour his heart out to Billy and anyway, he was almost certain that Billy wouldn’t care or would laugh at his misery.

After that, the drive was mostly silent except from the music playing on the radio once Steve put the volume up again. Steve drove to the house where they were last night and park next to Billy’s car.

"See nothing happened to your baby."

Billy was about to go out of the car but Steve grabbed him by the wrist.

"Wait."

Billy stopped and turned to Steve. "What now?"

"What happened?" He let go of Billy’s wrist and pointed at his black eye.

"It’s nothing! I told you." He stepped out of the car, turned to Max and snapped. "What are you waiting for? Get out!" 

She opened her door quickly and got out of the car. She walked in the direction of Billy’s car and waved at Steve before going inside of it. Billy sighed and turned to Steve.

"Listen, I was pretty drunk last night. I stumbled on one of my weights and fell." He shrugged, turning his back to Steve once again. He started walking and got back to his car. He entered his car and as he shut the door closed, Steve reignite the engine to drive back to his house. 

He thought about the justification Billy gave him about his black eyes, and even if he couldn’t explain why, he didn’t think Billy gave him the real reason of his injury.

 

* * *

 

 

Before heading to Hawkins High on Monday, Steve decided to do a quick stop by the local shop. His can of hairspray was almost empty, and he had to buy a new one. He didn’t wander in the different aisles and went directly to the hygiene part, where he was welcomed with five different brands of product. He already had tried three of them but didn’t find the right one yet. He took one can and started to read the label on it.

"You !" Steve turned his head toward the sound and saw Billy’s dad coming to him. He barely had time to process what was happening that the middle-aged man was standing in front of him. "You’re the guy that brought Billy’s home last Saturday!"

With the tone he was using, Steve knew the guy wasn’t here to thank him so he stayed quiet, unsure of what to say.

"Hear me out boy." He pointed a finger at Steve. "You stay away from him! Got it?"

He stopped talking, waiting for any reaction from Steve. Even if he was menacing, Steve knew the guy wouldn’t do anything to him here. They were in the middle of the shop with witnesses all around them. 

"I’m his French tutor. Kind of hard to stay away if I have to teach him." He tried to look nonchalant, but actually, he really hoped that Billy’s dad wouldn’t do anything stupid.

Instead, the man just laughed. "You think I’m stupid?"  This was the same kind of humorless laugh that Billy had used once or twice. "My son is a grade A student! Try to find an excuse more convincing."

Steve knew that. He knew that Billy didn’t need his help in French but what could he say ? That his teacher blackmailed him into tutoring this kid so she could help him get in university ? No, he couldn’t say that.

As if Billy’s dad took his silence as a victory he dropped the light, yet still full of threat, tone. "This is the only warning you’ll get _fag_!" He spitted the last word with utter disdain and before Steve had time to react, the old man was already turning and leaving.

He took the can he had in hands and forgot the label altogether. He went to pay and back to his car to drive to the high school.

He entered the gymnasium as the team players were leaving the locker rooms. Some players recognized him and nodded in his direction to greet him.

"Billy, what did you get yourself into ?" Coach asked when the team was close enough to him.

"Wild party this week end coach. I fell after a couple of beers." Billy answered being very smug about it.

Steve remembered the party in a different way. First, Billy hadn’t just drank a couple of beers as said, but seven shots at least. Also, he hadn’t felt during the party, Steve was sure of that. When he had dropped Billy home, he didn’t have any black eye. 

"Alright, alright. Should I remind you that I’m your coach and you’re not supposed to drink alcohol under 21?" The way coach said it showed that he wasn’t angry. He told them to run 5 times around the court to get warmed up, instead of their usual 3 turns. Then he turned to Steve and asked him: "are you going to play like that?" 

"Shoot, I forgot my bag in the car. I’ll be right back."

The coach nodded as Steve started to jog out of the gymnasium. When he was back, he went to the locker room, and changed quickly into his sport outfit which was the same he had from last year. Dressed like that, he looked like he was still part of the team.  

He went out of the locker room and back next to the coach, waiting for directions. Coach blew his whistle to bring the last boys running around him.

"Remember Steve ?"

"Vividly" Billy said under his breath, but as Steve was next to him, he heard it anyway. He turned to him, and Billy cocked an eyebrow in a suggestive way.

"He’ll play with you today. He’s good so I expect you to be excellent." Coach continued, not paying attention to what Billy had said, if he even heard it, in the first place. He clapped in his hands then. "Alright. I need two teams, quick!"

Two groups started to form in front of him. Coach gauged quickly the teams and hummed his approval. "Okay Steve, you’ll go with this team. You" he turned to the other group, "you are team skins today."

Billy, who was in the team against Steve was more than happy to comply, and in a second, he was shirtless. Steve just rolled his eyes, but when Billy turned to throw his t-shirt out of the court, Steve saw one bruise on is ribs and a bit to the back. 

Then Coach blew his whistle to announce the start of the game. Both teams went to their side of the court and coach came in the middle of it with the ball. He carried the ball in his right hand, palm facing up and signaled Billy and Steve to come near him. Well, at least now Steve knew who he was supposed to mark during the game. Coach throw the ball in the air and both Steve and Billy jumped to have it.

Steve who was a little rusty jumped half a second after Billy, but it was enough for Billy to catch the ball and start to dribble to the net. And… He scored right away, grinning to Steve. After a few more points for each team, Steve decided to be a bit more aggressive, he went to Billy, and spread his arms in front of him to prevent him to move forward. Billy turned and put his back to Steve front, and started to step back until Steve had no other choice than stepping back with him. He tried to put his arm around Billy to get the ball, but to no avail. 

At one point, Steve put his left arm around Billy at the same time as Billy decided to go to the left, which resulted in Billy wincing in pain as Steve pressed against his bruise. At this moment, a guy from Steve’s team came next to them and grabbed the ball from Billy, dribble, and scored a three-point basket.

Steve teared his eyes off the player celebrating his move and turned to Billy. "Dude I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you."

"You play dirty, I like that. Don’t apologize golden boy." He started to run toward his team, waiting for someone to give him the ball. Unfortunately, Coach blew his whistle one more time to announce the end of their game. 

The rest of the practice went without any more injury, mostly because after the small incident, Steve was afraid to touch Billy and to hurt him. When they were done playing, Coach gave them his review of what to improve and try next time, then he dismissed them.

Steve stayed behind to tell him what he thought. "That kid with the weird haircut ? Yeah, he’s too passive, he looks like he’s afraid to touch the ball."

Coach tried to defend that guy. "I’ve noticed too, but I don’t know how to change that. I’ll try to think of something else for next time. You’ll come ?"

Steve shrugged. "Yeah sure, why not." It's not as if he had anything else to do anyway.

Then Coach thanked him again for coming and playing today, and when they were done, Steve went to the locker room to take a shower. On his way, he met Billy still shirtless, but with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Oh pretty boy, if I knew you were coming, I would have waited to take my shower."

Steve, deciding that two could play that game, tried to sound cocky. "Maybe next time then." And he went to grab the towel in his bag before heading to the shower. When he was done, everything was quiet, letting him know he was alone. He got dressed quickly, and drove back home. 

The rest of the day went in a blur, he had dinner with his parents and watched a movie while they went to bed. When the movie was finished, he went to his room and undress to be in his underwear only. He climbed in his bed and thought about the last events, trying to create a timeline. 

On Saturday night, he had gone to a party where Billy was. Then, he had decided to take Billy home because he was way too drunk to drive by himself. He had helped Billy to his porch when Bill’s dad appeared. Until then, Steve was sure Billy didn’t have a black eyes, but then, the next day, he had one. The encounter between Steve and Billy’s dad was still ringing in his ears, and not for the first time today, he realized that Billy’s dad might be the reason of his black eye and the bruise on his ribs.

At some point, he fell asleep. That night, Steve dreamt of Billy for the first time. When he woke up, he couldn’t help but feel guilty. He insisted on driving Billy home on Saturday night and that caused him trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, glad you made it to the end :)  
> As I told you, I don't have any beta, and if one of you would like to help me, please let me know.  
> Other than that, I hoped you enjoyed that chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

Moving his head to the rhythm of the music, Steve wished there was a quicker way to contact Billy. Instead, he had to drive all the way to the high school to tell him about their next tutoring lesson. He parked in the lot of the school and waited for the last bell of the day.

When the stream of students started to get out of school, Steve got out of his car and tried to find Billy in the crowd. He waited ten minutes before realizing that maybe, Billy wasn’t in school today. He turned around to search for his car, and found it almost right away. The parking lot was halfway empty, and the blue Camaro stood out among the rest of the cars.

He turned back to face the high school and spotted Liam, one guy from the basketball team.

"Hey Steve," Liam made a head gesture toward him. "What are you doing here? Practice is not until Wednesday."

"Yeah, I know. I’m waiting for Billy. You don’t know where he is by any chance ?"

"Sorry dude, I don’t have class with him."

"It’s okay," Steve shrugged, "I’ll just wait here."

Liam nodded and started to walk again. Then he stopped. "Oh wait," he slid his bag down his shoulder and fished for something inside. "Here." He took a paper out and handed it to Steve.

Steve scanned it quickly; it was a flyer for some party this weekend. Maybe he’ll ask Billy if he was planning to go so he would at least know one person. He suspected that some guys from the team would be here, but he didn’t have the same relationship with them. "Thanks man."

"I’ll see you there ?" The guy took a step back and waited for Steve to shrug before going back to his car.

Steve looked at the paper again. He read the address on it, and tried to place it in Hawkins. It wasn’t close to his house so he would probably have to drink lightly.

Billy was still not outside, and Steve wondered what had happened for him to still be inside. He folded the flyer and put it in his pocket before checking his watch. Finally, when he looked up, he saw Billy, looking furious.

Billy went directly to his car and Steve saw him open his door quite violently and throw his bag in the backseat. Then he patted his pocket and took his cigarettes out. He leaned against the car, facing the middle school.

Steve walked toward him. "Hey!" Billy turned his head, checking who it was but didn’t return the greeting.

"Are you stalking me ?" Billy asked with his cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

Steve huffed a laugh. "At school? Not really." Steve remembered how he accused Jonathan to be a stalker a couple of years ago. Steve was not like that: hiding in bushes and taking pictures of people. "How do you feel about going to my place for the upcoming tutoring lessons ? "

Billy let the smoke of his cigarette out of his mouth very slowly. "Is it your way to bring me to your house so you could woo me ?" He arched an eyebrow, relishing in the way Steve looked so panicked. "Don’t worry pretty boy." He leaned toward Steve as if he wanted to share a secret. "I won’t tell anyone."

This is not what Steve meant, but he couldn’t really tell him about his encounter with his dad in the shop. He kind of suspected it would be a sensitive topic, and he didn’t want to put Billy in a bad mood. He decided to bump his shoulder against Billy’s. "Be there at six."  
Steve started to walk back to his car and stopped when he realized Billy probably didn’t have his address. He went back next to Billy. "Do you have a pen ?"

Billy took a pen out of his trouser and gave it to Steve. He took the flyer out of his own pocket and wrote his address at the back. He handed the paper and the pen to Billy. Without any other word, he walked to his car and drove back to his house.

 

* * *

 

A bit before 6pm, Steve checked the planning Mademoiselle Loiseau had given him. Today, they were supposed to talk about France during World War II. It was a heavy subject, but Steve’s favorite. Hopefully, he’ll be able to share some of his passion with Billy.

Billy was late, but when the bell rang around 6.10pm, Steve didn’t comment on it. He greeted Billy and lead the way to the study room his dad used when he was working. It offered some sense of calm where things could be done.

When he stepped inside, Billy whistled. Steve smiled at himself, and turned to Billy. "So, I found a text about World War two. Read it, then write a little summary in French to see what you understood from it." He nodded in the direction of one paper on the table.

Billy rolled his eyes at the prospect of what he had to do but went to sit at the table anyway. It’s not as if he had much choice anyway.

They sat in a comfortable silence for about half an hour, but then Billy started to speak again.

"Steve." His tutor raised one finger to silently ask him to wait one second. Once he reached the end of the line he was reading, he looked at Billy. "Can we not do French today ?"

Steve arched an eyebrow. "Why ?"

Billy shrugged and took the pack of cigarette out of his pocket. "I’m tired." Steve wanted to tell him that it wasn’t an excuse but then, Billy put a cigarette to his mouth. "Mind if I smoke ?"

"Not in here, my dad would kill me. Follow me." Steve got up and out of the room, crossed the kitchen and went to the backyard through the french-window. It was a little chilly outside but it was still bearable. "I guess we can skip French today."

Steve motioned to Billy to sit on one of the chairs on the side of the pools. This is where he used to hang out with Tommy when they were still in high-school. Then Tommy went to college and forgot about him and Hawkins.

Billy lit his cigarette and lied down on the chair. "It’s a nice house you have."

Steve hummed not sure how to answer. If Steve had anything to say about the house, he would say it was way too big. He was alone most of the time, and even when his parents were around, it just felt too big. Every room had its own decoration, and it wasn’t as if the Harrington didn’t have money to buy furniture, but sometimes, Steve felt as if he was living in a model house. Except from his bedroom, everything else looked uninhabited.

Billy’s house was more modest, but he was sure that every room had its own story. Billy could tell him that he had lost his front teeth falling on a particular spot when a five-year-old version of himself was doing stunts, and Steve would believe him. The only memories Steve had in his house were boring stuff.

Steve lied down on the chair next to Billy. "Can I have a smoke ?" He stretched his arm toward Billy waiting for the pack, but instead, Billy gave him his cigarette. He took a long drag and passed it back to Billy, letting the smoke out of his lungs slowly.

They stayed in a confortable silence, watching the trees in front of them shaking as the wind blew and passing the cigarette back and forth. As the cigarette was getting shorter, their fingers brushed more than once, but it didn’t feel weird at all.

Then, as Steve gave the cigarette back to Billy so he could have the lost drag, he remembered something. "Are you planning to go to the party this weekend ?" He didn’t want to admit it not to sound too desperate, but if Billy was going, he would consider the idea of going too.

"Not sure yet. You ?" Billy brushed the butt of the cigarette on his boot and threw it somewhere. Steve crooked an eyebrow and Billy sighed while he stood. He went to pick the butt off the ground and put it in his pocket. "Happy ?"

"Very," he said, giving Billy a big smile to demonstrate how happy he was.

"Anyway, I’m not going if you’re not." Billy continued as he laid back again on his chair, closing his eyes.

Steve took the opportunity to eye Billy and wondered why he would say anything like that. He had friends, he wasn’t relying on Steve to have fun, but somehow, he didn’t want to go without him. It was like the last time when Steve decided to leave the part after seeing Nancy and Jonathan. He didn’t remember the exact words, but Billy told him he didn’t want to stay if Steve wasn’t there. He got pulled out of his thoughts before he could over-analyse the situation, as he always did.

"Man, I wish I could just lay down like that at my place." Billy said out of nowhere, with his eyes still closed, enjoying the peace around them. "But it’s always so loud."

Most of the time Billy was in his room to limit the contact with everyone else in his house, but he still had to make some occasional appearance, for dinner for example. Susan, trying to keep the facade of a happy family , always asked Billy and Max what they did during their day. While Billy was always evasive, Max did a full report of her day, minute after minute. He would never say it out loud but even if he didn’t really pay attention to the conversation, he was happy that Max was so chatty.

"That’s why I always blast my music: to cover the noise around me. "

Steve wasn’t sure how to answer to that. He could understand why it could be annoying, but being alone without any noise but the sound coming from the TV wasn’t perfect either. He would love to have someone pretending to care about his day. "Feel free to come around if you need some quiet. Mi casa es su casa."

Maybe it was weird to offer Billy to hang out here if he wanted. It’s not as if they were enjoying time together outside of their school duties. They weren’t friends, but Steve thought that maybe they were halfway there.

Billy opened one eye and looked at Steve. "You’re supposed to teach me French, not Spanish." Steve shrugged, and tried to hide how relieved he was that Billy wasn’t commenting on the offer.

Billy looked at his watch and groaned. Steve looked at him and cocked an eyebrow. "I have to go."

Steve stood quickly. He was so at ease here that he forgot about everything else. Right. He waited for Billy to get up too, and went back inside. "I’ll see you on Wednesday ?" They didn’t have any tutoring planned until then, but Steve was going to be at practice with Coach.

Billy’s face changed from relaxed to cocky in a span of a few seconds. "Are you addicted to me ?"

Steve laughed at that remark. "Yes Billy, I cannot spend a day without seeing you. You know my secret."

Billy winked at him. "Don’t worry pretty boy, the feeling’s mutual." And then he turned and walked out the door leaving Steve there, ready to read into that encounter a million times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't have any beta, which is why it's taking me so long to update, and why my English is not as good as it used to be.  
> However, I hope you still enjoy the story (and the interesting part is coming next chapter)


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